In the news today: New affordability poll, Online harms rally, Ontario housing

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed …

Poll suggests Canadians want Carney government focused on affordability in next year

A new poll suggests Canadians give the Liberal government passing grades in international relations after its first year, but want it to focus more on affordability.

The poll from the Angus Reid Institute was conducted ahead of the one-year anniversary of last year’s election, which was focused on who was best positioned to manage the Canada-U.S. relationship.

Just 31 per cent of the 2,013 respondents said they thought that relationship would be the top concern for the government in its second year, while the top priority for most respondents was the cost of living.

Seventy per cent of people surveyed said they think the government has fallen short of expectations when it comes to addressing affordability, but people were split on whether Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is meeting its election promises.

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Child advocates to rally for online harms bill covering AI chatbots, gaming

Children’s advocates will hold a rally and press conference on Parliament Hill today to call for online harms legislation that covers AI chatbots and video games.

Sara Austin, founder and CEO of Children First Canada, says recent months have seen a real escalation in harms linked to AI chatbots.

OpenAI banned the mass shooter in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., from using its ChatGPT platform due to worrisome interactions, but did not alert law enforcement.

The federal government plans to bring in online harms legislation, but is still consulting on aspects of it, including whether to include AI chatbots.

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Bank of Canada expected to hold key rate as it grapples with Iran war shock

The Bank of Canada is widely expected to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged later this week, but officials are also set to give more details about how the Iran war is affecting the central bank’s forecasts for inflation and the economy.

Inflation data for March showed the headline inflation rate jumped more than half a percentage point as conflict in the Middle East sent gasoline prices soaring.

Economists say underlying inflation pressures, meanwhile, were cooling last month, which will let the Bank of Canada remain on the sidelines as it waits for more clarity on how long the war will last.

Tony Stillo with Oxford Economics says he expects the Bank of Canada will lay out a handful of scenarios for how inflation might progress depending on how long the conflict persists.

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A major housing development is in the works east of Toronto, but some are crying foul

The City of Pickering will vote on a housing development plan next month that could transform the municipality’s landscape east of Toronto over the next quarter-century.

Mayor Kevin Ashe says the plan could see homes built for more than 70,000 people, but a local First Nation is sounding the alarm about “”a complete lack of meaningful dialogue.”

The area under consideration covers more than 17 square kilometres in northeast Pickering, a city located within the territory of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

Abdullah Mir, the co-chair of an advocacy group called Stop Durham Sprawl, has also raised concerns about the development plan and how much it could cost, and that the city should move work to intensify existing neighbourhoods.

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VPD officers haven’t spoken at Myles Gray death hearing. Here’s what the exhibits say

The hearing into the actions of seven Vancouver police officers leading up to the 2015 death of Myles Gray resumes Wednesday, but exhibits released by the Police Complaints Commissioner tell the story of what happened that fateful day.

Fifteen minutes of police radio recordings suggest a chaotic confrontation, with officers telling the dispatcher that the man they were dealing with was challenging them to a fight and he appeared intoxicated.

A police disciplinary process previously determined that the seven officers did not commit misconduct, and no charges have been laid over Gray’s death, which a 2023 coroner’s inquest ruled was a homicide.

The inquest heard that Gray was left with injuries including a fractured eye socket, a crushed voice box and ruptured testicles.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2026.

The Canadian Press